asked whether they were russian military men, he added, >> interpreter: these are local forces of self defense. >> reporter: these tweets and reporters on the ground seem to confirm american assertions, that the mystery soldiers are from full-fledged russian military units. people in crimea and elsewhere in ukraine were being targeted and attacked. >> when the life and security of the residents of crimea are being subjected to real threats due to the irresponsible provocative actions of gangs and ultra nationalists, we would like to emphasize that russia's actions are appropriate and legitimate. >> there have been protests, but no deaths or serious injuries since the interim government took over. >> there has been no surge in crime, no surge in looting, no political retribution. the russian government would have you believe against all of the evidence that there have been mass defections of ukrainianss to russia or attacks on churches in the eastern ukraine. that hasn't happened either. >> interpreter: this coincides with our interests to protect those people who we consider closely linked to